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913Fwd: Assist with River Protection/America's Great Outdoors publicity?

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Rick Dietz

Oct 8, 2010

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I'm forwarding a message from the American Rivers organization
asking for someone to submit an Op-Ed to the DM Register in support
of the President's American Great Outdoors Initiative. I've already
sent a letter of personal support - from the American Rivers website
I think.

Sorry to send
an email to y'all, but I've been having trouble finding
someone in Iowa to submit an Op-Ed in support of river
protection and recreation, and thought you might help.

Brief
Background

We have a key
chance to influence the Obama administration on river
protection issues – and leave a
legacy for our children.

The
President's America's Great Outdoors Initiative is a critical
opportunity to enhance stewardship of our nation's rivers and
increase opportunities for the public to enjoy them. Echoing
the efforts of Teddy
Roosevelt’s administration over100 years ago, the Obama
Administration is reaching out to the public to listen to our
priorities in setting a strong conservation agenda.

Just as
Roosevelt’s efforts led to the creation of five national parks
and the protection of the Grand Canyon, as well as a host of
national forests and monuments, we’re working to get the Obama
Administration
to take bold action. Specifically, we’re asking the
Administration to launch a National Blueways Initiative to
improve recreation and protect river corridors and to
designate more places as wild and scenic rivers.

We need your
help to convince our nation's leaders to act boldly to protect
our outdoor heritage. Having a strong turnout of people who
know and appreciate our rivers will be key to having the
Administration take
action.

More
BackgroundPresident Obama established the America's Great Outdoors
(AGO) initiative in April to develop a conservation and
recreation agenda that will reconnect Americans with our great
outdoors. The Administration's first step in the AGO
initiative is to listen
to those of us who are actually using public lands and waters.
AGO events were organized across the nation this summer. Some
events were officially held by the Administration, while
others were held by organizations including river advocacy
groups like ours,
with Administration attendance.

This is a key opportunity to provide direct input from our
community – canoeists and
kayakers, hunters and fishers, hikers and backpackers – to decision makers in Washington.
With your input we can better
guide the decisions that affect your favorite rivers, routes,
trails and wild places.

We see public
support of river protection and recreation as a key piece at
this point in the campaign. We think final decisions about the
Administration's direction will be taken by mid-to-late
October, so we're
looking to submit these op-eds ASAP. We've love it if you
could submit an Op-Ed to the Des Moines Register talking about
the importance of water trails and river protection in Iowa.
I've drafted something and can work with you on language.

If you can
let me know by Monday whether this is something you're
interested in doing, that would be fabulous.